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Pe ee ee ee ee 


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Branca — Articulaia — Consisting of rings, or joints. 
Criass — Znsects — Uaving bodies divided into two or three distinct parts. 
ORDER — Hymenoptera — Having membranous wings. 


FamiLy — Formicaria — Ant family. 


ew 


Saep-O you ever find yourself, some 
dreamy summer day, with no- 
thing to do? The hot, dense 
rays of the July sun scorch the 
dry grass, glow in the burning 
sand, and almost hiss in the 
water of the idle stream. The 
birds hide in the dense thickets, 
the cattle pant in the shade, and the very dog 
wishes he could take his jacket off. The straw- 
berry leaves crisp in the heat, and rest upon 
=e. 


tai 


4 ABOUT ANTS. 


the ground; the corn curls its green blades, 
and turns blue; the portulaccas sLut their cups; 
the pansies hang their heads; even the giant 
sunflower droops his broad leaves, and the cab- 
bages perspire. It is too warm to work, or to 
read, or to play. The boy has exhausted all 
his own plans for fun, and in despair asks his 
mother, ‘“* What shall I do?” 

T’ll tell you what to do. Find an ant-hill 
in some shady place, where the sun will not 
burn your back, lie down upon your face, and 
watch it. You have passed such a thousand 
times, without knowing what curious things 
could be seen there. The little fellows worked 
all the morning, and brought up out of that 
hole in the middle, all the grains of sand that 
you see piled around in a tiny, circular fortress. 
One by one they brought them out and laid 
them in their places. Now they are thoroughly 
warmed by the sun, and they are carrying 
them back again, into the rooms which they 
have excavated below. If there is a flat stone 
near, turn it over, and you will quite likely 


THEIR CITIES. 5 


find a much busier crowd. A large chamber, 
with many winding passages running hither 
and thither, and connecting with each other, 
and with other passages underneath, has been 
made, like the public square and the thronged 
streets of an old fashioned city. Itis not like 
the exact, right-angled, stiff, modern town, but 
the lanes turn in and out, and yet go on with 
persevering directness towards some particular 
spot which was not down in the original pian, 
although a point of much consequence. Scat- 
tered all along the thoroughfares of this stone- 
canopied town, and quite plenty in the grand 
square, are many long, round, white some- 
things, a little like grains of wheat. People 
have mistaken these things for the food of the 
ants, and so have written, 


‘“‘ The little ant, for one poor grazn, 
Doth tug, and toil, and strive.” 


But the ants lay up no food. They need none; 
for as soon as the hard frosts of autumn chill 
them, they lie down to sleep till. the spring 


6 ABOUT ANTS. 


wakes them again. If they did lay up food, it 
would not be grain, for the ant can no more 
eat grain than a man can eat gold, and the ant 
is not so big a fool as to hoard what he can not 
use. 

Others have thought that these little white 
sacks are the eggs of the ants; but eggs do 
not grow, and surely ants can not lay eggs tuat 
are larger than themselves. Whatever they 
are, the ants evidently think them very valua- 
ble. Away they go, over the clumps of earth, 
and through the tiny streets, as if to see what 
has happened, and estimate the damage. They 
don’t quite understand it, but they are agreed 
that one thing is to be done forthwith — these 
precious little sacks must be carried in, out of 
danger. So each grasps the nearest, and drags 
it away to the hole in the centre, the gateway 
of the inner town, where you see the throng 
coming out. The sack is larger than the ant, 
but he seizes it resolutely, and raises it over 
his head. Away he creeps, but it strikes 
that block ct sand at the street corner, and 


THEIR COCOON-SACKS. 7 


he can not lift it over. He lays it down 
and pulls the end of it round; that obsta- 
cle is past, but another is beyond. A second 
worker comes, and the two, by pulling at one 
end and lifting at the other, have brought it to 
the gate. Surely they can not get it through 
that narrow and crooked passage. One has 
gone below, and the sack shuts him from sight. 
The other tugs and pulls. It will not move. 
Yes, it does; see that end rise in the air; now 
it sinks in the hole; now it is out of sight. 
But here comes another, and another. All are | 
hurrying to the numerous stairways to the city 
below, and in a short time all will have van. 
ished. 

These sacks contain the young ants. The 
eggs were laid by the queen, and hatched 
by the warmth of the hot grains of sand. 
The grubs were fed, and grew, and finally 
shut themselves up in the sacks, as the cat- 
erpillar spins a cocoon, or the beetle-grub 
sheds his coat and becomes a chrysalis. Then 
the ants take great care of these sacks. They 


ABOUT ANTS. 


are very precious to them because they contain 
their children. If the air is damp and cold, or 
the rain falls, they carry them down into the 
lower rooms, and keep them warm. If the sun 
is warm and bright, they are brought where 
the warmth may be felt, without making them 
too dry. If they happen to be exposed, we 
have seen how they are hurried to a place of 
safety. If you should carefully dig down into 
the earth, you would find the underground city 
very extensive, the long, winding galleries lying 
tier after tier beneath each other, and leading 
to large apartments, where the ants and their 
children find room. 

Three kinds of ants come out of these cocoon- 
sacks. There are males, which have four 
wings; females, which are much larger, and 
have two wings; and a third kind, called work- 
ers, or nurse-ants, which have no wings. After 
midsummer the several kinds may often be — 
seen very busy about an ant hill, the winged 
ants trying to get away, and the workers bring: 
ing them back as often as they can find them 


.“ 


HOW THEY FOUND COLONIES. 9 


The males seem to be worthless fellows, and 
soon disappear. They have no sting to protect 
themselves with, and no jaws to help them get 
a living. 

Some of the females are caught by the work- 
ers, and taken back to the nest. Others wan- 
der away with a few followers and found new 
colonies, while others stray away by themselves, 
going out into the wide world alone. When 

one alights, she examines the new land which 
- she has discovered, to see if it is fit for a home. 
If she is satisfied, she turns back her head, bites 
off her wings at the shoulders, and settles down 
for life. Her wings carried her from her moth- 
er’s house to her new home, and henceforth her 
journeying is ended. Then she begins to hol- 
low out a chamber for herself. Even if she has 
workers with her, ske continues to toil until she 
has laid eggs; then she is recognized and hon- 
ored as a queen. If alone, she has to continue 
her toil until the young from her own eggs 
make a colony about her. The grubs, when 
hatched, are fed by the nurse-ants, or by the 


tO ABOUT ANTS. 


mother, with food prepared in the stomacn, 
and the solitary insect has much to do, to find 
food for herself and her hungry family. 
Ants eat various substances, particularly such 
as are juicy, or contain sugar. They kill and 
eat weaker insects, and they are very fond of 
ripe, sweet fruit. One may be sure they will 
always choose the best. If the pioneers can 
not eat the whole of some plunder which they 
have found, they carry away what they can, and 
then bring back an army to carry off the rest. 
They are very fond of a substance called honey- 
dew. Ants are often seen running up and 
down the trunks of trees, even when there 1s 
no fruit on the tree to tempt them. As the 
trees which they visit are often sickly, they are 
supposed to do some injury. They are not at 
all to blame, but are only going to their farms 
to look after: their cattle. The leaves and ten- 
der twigs of these trees will be found to be 
covered with small, pale-green insects, called 
Aphides, or Plant-lice. They are often very 
closely packed upon the leaf or stem, and they 


THEIR INDUSTRY. II 


do harm by sucking up the juices of the grow- 
ing plant. The ant comes up the tree to his 
dairy farm, and strokes one of the green lice 
with his feeler; the louse gives out a sigle 
drop of clear liquid, which the ant drinks. 
Then he goes to the next, and so on, milking 
his cows, or gathering honey-dew. When he 
has enough, he goes back to his work, digging, 
_ building, or feeding the young ants. 

The working ant does a great deal of work 
inaday. M. Huber, a French naturalist, gives 
an account of a single day’s work of one ant. 
The insect first dug in the earth a groove or 
road, about a quarter of an inch deep and four 
inches long. The dirt which he took out, he 
kneaded into pellets, and placed on each side 
of his road, to make a wall. When this road 
was finished, very smooth and straight, he 
found that another was wanted, and he made 
that in the same manner, and about the same 
size. A man, to have done as much in propor- 
tion to his size, must have dug two ditches, 
each four and a half feet deep, and seventy-two 


12 ABOUT ANTS. 


feet long; he must have made the clay inte 
bricks, and laid them up in walls on each side 
of the ditches, two to three feet high and fifteen 
inches th'eck. He must have gone over it all 
and made it straight and smooth; and must 
have made it alone, in ground full of logs and - 
stones. 

The Brown Ants, F’. brunnea, are both miners 
and builders. They work either at night or in 
damp weather, because the sunshine dries their 
mortar too fast. They build a house of many 
atories, sometimes twenty or thirty. Hach story 
is about a fifth of an inch high, supported by 
many partitions and pillars. In wet weather 
they take the family into the upper rooms; in 
dry weather they occupy the middle or the lower 
floors. While. building, they work the damp 
clay in their jaws until the pellets are compact, 
and will adhere firmly; then they press them 
tightly against the tops of the partitions which 
they have made. As fast as one row of bricks 
has dried, another row is added; thus they will 
lay a perfectly smooth and strong ceiling two 


CARPENTERS 13 


inches in diameter. When these walls are fin- 
ished, the rain and sun seem only to make 
them harder. If a stick or straw is in their 
way, they at once make a beam or a post of it. 
If a post, they cover it with mortar until it is 
thick and strong enough for their work. Ifa 
beam, they build their ceiling against and 
around it. If a room is too large, they build 
partitions, and divide it into smaller rooms of 
suitable size. 

Other Ants are carpenters. They often re- 
move so much of a log of wood as to leave it a 
mere honey-comb, pierced through and through 
in every direction with their passages. The 
walls between are often as thin as paper, and 
yet are never broken through except where on# 
passage crosses another. They can not know, 
how to cut so near another passage by sight, 
for all is done in the dark; they can not plan 
or measure, as a reasoning being would do; 
and yet they do their work with greater deli- 
cacy and accuracy than the man who reasons 
and measures. For some unexplained cause, 


14 ABOUT ANS. 


the wood through which they cut 1s all colored 
black, as if the fire had passed through it. 
When these black carpenters get into « 
dwelling, they cause a deal of trouble. They 
make themselves at home in the very wood- 
work of the house. They gnaw a way into any 
wooden box which they wish to explore, and 
will find the least crevice into the sugar-box or 
cake-jar. The prudent housewife puts her pot 
of sweetmeats in a pan of water, but if the ants 
know what the jar contains, they will find a 
way to it, even if they crawl upon the shelf 
above, and drop down upon it. The family 
may be almost exterminated, and yet, if two or 
three be left, with all the resources of the nest 
at their command, in a little time the plagueg 
are as thick as ever. Moreover, they bite. 
Some tribes of Ants are very warlike, ané¢ 
they make war to capture the workers of other 
tribes, and obtain slaves for their own commu- 
nities. It is said that the kidnappers are always 
pa.e or red Ants, and that the captured slaves 
are black When the red Ants are about to 


THE/R WARFARE. 15 


make a foray, they send scouts to explore the 
ground, who afterwards return and report their 
success, They then march forth in regulaz 
armies. The assailed town pours out its inhab- 
itants, and the fight begins. Head to head, 
foot to foot, jaw to jaw, the sable warriors de- 
fend their homes and their children, but in 
vain. The victory is always with the invaders. 
They do not drive out their conquered foes, 
but they break into their homes and carry 
away the cocoons of the workers. The red 
ants return in perfect order to their own city, 
bearing with them their living burdens. They 
treat the plundered young with the same care 
they give their own, and the ants produced 
from the stolen cocoons seem to work with 
abundant energy and good will. The irhabit- 
ants of the besieged city, knowing what result 
will follow the fight, often carry away many of 
their young. They take them to the tops of 
the grass stems, and hide them amid the foliage 
of other plants. When the raid is over, they 
bring them back to the nest again. Several 


16 ABOUT ANTS. 


kinds of ants practice this kind of warfare, and 
the results are too well attested by careful 
observers to admit of doubt. 

Although there are many kinds, and count. 
less numbers of Ants in the cooler countries of 
the temperate zone, they are far surpassed in 
number, in size, and in venomous power, by 
those found in the hot lands of the torrid zone. 
Here all kinds of reptile and of insect life seem 
to be extravagantly developed, and the ants are 
often so numerous and so powerful as to drive 
away every other living thing. . 

The Satiba or Coushie Ant, Gicodoma cepha- 
lotes, lives in South America. It is often called 
the Parasol Ant. Large columns may be seen 
marching along, each carrying in its jaws, and 
over its head, a round piece of leaf, about the 
size of adime. Many supposé that this is actu- 
ally carried to keep. off the heat of the sun; 
but the fact is that they use the leaves to 
thatch the roofs of their houses, and to keep 
the loese earth from falling in. They choose 
the leaves of cultivated trees, as the orange and 


THE SAUBA ANTS. - 


the coffee. When they attack a tree, they strip 
it of foliage so entirely, that it often dies. Then 
they march away with their plunder, and fling 
it on the ground, at the nest. Another party 
of workers take up the pieces, and put thein 
upon the roof, covering them with dirt. These 
domed houses are wonderfully large, measuring 
sometimes two feet in height, and forty feet in 
diameter. Their underground cities are on 
even a larger scale. The smoke of burning 
sulphur blown into one opening has been found 
to come out at another, more than two hundred 
feet away. 

There are three kinds of these ants: the 
winged, the large headed —sometimes called 
soldiers, and the workers. The large headed 
are also of two sorts: one kind has a smooth 
helmet, covered *with horny substance, which 
one can almost see through, and the other 
wears a dark helmet, covered with hairs. The 
business of these large-heads is not very well 
understood. The smooth helmets seem to do 
nothing but walk about. They do not fight: 


18 - ABOUT ANTS. 


they do not work; they do not appear to over. 
look those which do work. The hairy-helmets 
are not known to do any more. If the topo. 
one of the mounds be taken off, a circular wel 
will be found in the centre, into which a stick 
three or four feet long may be thrust, without 
touching bottom. Presently some of these 
hairy-headed fellows, each wearing one eye 
in the middle of its forehead, like a fabled 
Cyclops, will come slowly up the smooth sides 
of the well, to see what is wanted. But they 
are not very pugnacious, and may easily be 
caught by the fingers. 

The winged ants are the perfect males and 
females. They come out a little after midsum- 
mer, that is in February. The females have 
bodies about as large as hornets, and spread’ 
their wings nearly two inches: The males are 
much smaller. Although hosts pour out of the 
nests, few remain after a day, for the birds and 
insect eating animals have devoured most of 
them. Those which escape found new colo- 
nies in spite of all the dangers which threaten 


FORAGING ANTS. — 19 


« 


to destroy them; even the art of mar can not 
conquer them. , 

Among the South American Ants are several 
species which are classed together, and called- 
Foraging Ants. They belong to the genus 
Eciton. They have been confounded with the 
Saiiba Ants, just described, but their habits are 
quite different. The real Foraging Ant, £. dre- 
panephora, is very annoying, and very useful. 
These insects go out from their cities in im- 
mense armies, not very broad, but often a hun- 
dred yards long. Officers march beside the 
column, very busy keeping their own portion 
of the line in order. There is an officer to 
about twenty privates; their white heads nod- 
ding up and down make them quite conspicu- 
ous. The pittas, or ant thrushes, always accom-| 
pany these armies, picking up the Ants for their 
own food; but still the band goes marchirg on. 
The people know that the Ants are on the war 
path, and make every preparation for their 
reception. 

In those countries, insects of every kind get 


20 ABOUT ANTS. 


into the houses, and multiply to an extent 
which almost drives the inhabitants from their 
somes. By day they are a trouble, and by 
night a pest. They bite, and suck, and scratch, 
ar.d sting. They crawl over the food; they 
hide in the bed; they fly into the lamp, and 
then whirl on the table; they creep into the 
ink; they emit horrible smells. There are 
centipedes which sting, and scorpions which 
sting. There are cockroaches of powerful size 
and smell, and of insatiable appetite. As for 
snakes and lizards, and other creeping things, 
they are too common to be noticed. It is of 
no use to fight. Your enemies are legions of 
numbers innumerable. But when the Forag- 
ing Ants come, the case is altered, for nothing 
can stand their attack. When the pittas come 
about, the people open every box and drawer in 
the house, so as to allow the ants to explere 
every crevice, and then they vacate the prem- 
ises. 

“Presently a few scouts, which form the van- 
guard o1 the grand army, approach, and seem 


RAIDS UPON VERMIN. 21 


to inspect the house, to see if it is worthy of a 
visit. The long column then pours in and dis- 
perzes over the dwelling. They enter every 
crevice, and speedily haul out any unfortunate 
- ereature which is hidden therein. Great oock- 
roaches are dragged unwillingly away, being 
pulled in front by four or five ants, and pushed 
from behind by as many more. The rats and 
mice speedily succumb to the onslaught of their 
myriad foes, the snakes and the lizards fare no 
better, and even the formidable weapons of the 
centipedes and scorpions are overcome. 

“In a wonderfully short time the Foraging 
Ants have done their work, the turmoil gradu- 
ally ceases, the scattered parties again form 
into line, and the army moves out of the house, 
carrying its spoils in triumph. When the in- 
habitants return, they find every intruder gone, 
and to their great comfort may move about 
without treading on some unfortunate creature, 
or put on their shoes without knocking them 
on the floor to shake out a scorpicn or a centi- 
pede.” 


22 ABOUT ANTS. 


But those who are accustomed to the country 
are careful to keep out of the way. Ifa man 
should happen to cross the column, the ants at 
once dash at him, climb up his legs, and bite 
with their powerful and poisonous jaws. His 
only safety is in running away until the main 
army is too far off to renew the attack, and 
then destroying those which he has brought with 
him. This is not easy, for the Ants have long, 
hooked jaws, and bite so fiercely that they may 
be pulled away piecemeal, leaving the jaws in 
the wound to be picked out separately. 

Another species, #. predator, marches in 
broad, solid mass. It is a little creature, like 
our common red ant, but much brighter col- 
ored, making the trunk of a tree upon which 
many climb look as if smeared with a blood-red 
liquid. 

This little red ant is exceedingly venomous: 
its bite brings a quenchless, burning sensa- 
tion, whence the Brazilians call it ‘fire ant,” 
The South American Indians require their 
young men to undergo the ordeal of the Tocan 


A 
A FIERY ORDEAL. — 23 


deiros, or fire-ants, before they can be known 
as warriors, or recognized as braves. <A pair 
of mittens are made of the bark of the palm 
tree, long enough to cover the arms above the 
elbows, and are filled with the Tocandeiros, 
The candidate for warlike honor must put his 
hands into these bags of living fire, and wear 
them while he makes the round of the village, 
and dances a jig’ at every pause. During this 
march he must wear a smiling face, and chant 
a kind of song so loud as to be heard above all 
the noise his companions may make upon rude 
horns and drums. He must not, by word, 
action, or look, show any sign of the torture 
which he endures; if he should, he will be the 
ridicule of his tribe, and even the maidens will 
refuse to know him. When the round of the 
village is complete, he must pause before the 
chief with swifter dance, and louder chant, 
until he falls from exhaustion, and the burning 
gauntlets are removed. Then he has won his 
right to carry a spear with his tribe. 

A species, /. legionis, attacks the nests of 


24 ABOUT ANTS. 


some of the large burrowing ants. They 
arrange themselves for this purpose into two 
bands; one set dig into the ground and take 
out pellets of earth, while the others receive 
the pellets and carry them away. They will 
thus sink a hole ten or twelve inches, and 
always succeed in opening the nest. The ma- 
terials they pull to pieces and carry home, as 
well as the inmates. The community is in 
wonderful discipline. Each ant knows _ his 
place, and attends to his business. 

The species &. erratica, is blind. The eyes 
of the other varieties are very small, but in the 
Blind Ant they are absolutely wanting, not 
showing even a trace. They have, however, 
some means of knowing light from darkness, 
for they are very uneasy when brought into the 
light. 

They are wonderful builders, constructing 
long galleries through which they travel. If a 
gallery be broken into, the soldiers are seen 
slowly coming out, and opening their large 
jaws as if they would bite something. If not 


THE DRIVER ANTS | 25 


disturbed, they retire into the gallery, and soon 
the workers come and repair the breach. 
These galleries are built upon the surface of 
the earth, and do not penetrate the soil. 

Some Ants make their nests in trees, hang- 
ing them from the boughs, like the wasps. 
One of these carries its abdomen in the air, 
hanging over its back, and has acquired the 
uncouth name Crematogaster, or ‘‘ hanging-belly.” 
Another is called by travelers the Green Ant, 
CEcophylla virescens. The name signifies a 
house and a leaf, and is given because it makes 
its hanging nest of dried leaves. When dis. 
turbed, the Ants come pattering down upon 
the man below like rain-drops; seeking for 
spots which they can wound, and having a 
special faculty for finding their way down the | 
neck. : 

A tribe of Ants somewhat similar to the 
Evitons of South America, is found in Africa, 
and is called Bashi Kouay, or Driver <Ant, 
Anemma arcens. It is the dread of all animals, 
from the leopard to the smallest insect. It 


26 ABUUT ANTS. 


marches through the forest in lines about two 
inches broad, and of incredible length. One 
writer asserts that he has seen a column of 
these =nsects continue passing a single point, 
at good speed, for twelve hours. Officers 
march along the line and maintain order. If 
the advance guard come to an open place, not 
shaded by trees, they build a covered way, or 
tunnel, of dirt moistened with their saliva. If 
there are sticks and leaves on the ground, they 
fill up only the spaces which are exposed, for 
the direct rays of the sun kill thom very 
quickly, If a stream crosses their path, they 
make a bridge of themselves, over which the 
whole pass. First a single Ant swings himself 
from the branch of a tree which overhangs the 
water. Then another crawls over him, and 
hangs from his feet. Others follow until a 
living chain is formed which reaches to the 
water, and rests upon it. Then the wind 
or the current wafts the free end of the chain 
about until it touches the opposite shore, and 
the crossing is complete. If one chain bridge 


BRIDGES OF ANTS. 27 


is insufficient, others are made alongside. It 
is asserted that the bridge is even made tubu: 
lar, and that the army marches through it. 

When the Ants get hungry, the long line 
stops marching by the flank, as soldiers would 
say, that is, following each other in line, and 
moves like an army in line of battle, devouring 
every thing in its way. The black men run 
for their lives. In avery short time a mouse, 
a dog, a leopard, or even a deer, is overrun, 
killed, eaten, and only the bones are left. 
When they enter a house, they clear it of every 
living thing. If a fowl is the victim, they dig 
out the feathers by the roots, and then pull the 
flesh to pieces, fastening their strong pincers 
into it, and never failing to bring away the 
piece. | 

A white hunter killed an antelope, and 
brought it to a native village. In the night 
he felt himself terribly bitten, and roused his 
attendants. The whole village was attacked by 
a column of the Bashi Kouay, which was 
attracted by the smell of the meat. The 


23 ABOUT ANTS. 


natives protected themselves by making circles 
of fire and standing inside. Before morning 
the insects had eaten every thing they could 
get, and had traveled on. 

During the abundant tropical rains the Drivers 
run together ard form themselves into balls, vary- 
ing in size, but usually about as large as those 
used in the game of ball. These balls of ants 
float upon the water until the land appears 
again, and the insects can go about their busi- 
ness. The natives try to destroy them by mak- 
ing fires over and about their nests. This does 
not accomplish much, for the cunning ants 
escape before the heat becomes too great, and 
will be found hanging in festoons upon the 
neighboring trees, and crossing from one to 
another by their chain bridges. 

These ants are black, with a tinge of red. 
They have enormous heads, equaling about 
one third of their entire length. The jaws are 
sharply curved, and cross each other when 
closed, so that if the ant has fixed itself, its 
hold can not be loosened unless the jaws are 


AGRICULTURAL ANTS. 29 


opened. It has no appearance of external 
eyes., | 
Dr. Lincecum has observed an Ant in Texas, 
which has been called the Agricultural Ant, 
Aita malefaciens. When this species has fixed 
its home in good dry ground, it bores a cen- 
tral hole, about which it raises the surface per- 
haps six inches, making a low mound, which 
gently slopes to the outer edge. If the spot be 
wet, the mound is raised higher, and is even 
fifteen or twenty inches high. ‘The space about 
the mound is carefully cleaned and smoothed 
like a pavement. Nothing is allowed to grow 
in this circle, tavo or three feet from the centre, 
except a single species of grass. This grass 
the ants tend with the greatest care, cutting 
away the weeds within and about it. It thrives 
under their culture, and bears a crop of seed 
which resembles, under the microscope, minia- 
ture rice. When ripe, it is carefully harvested, 
and carried into the cells, where it is cleaned 
of the chaff, and packed away. If the grain 
gets moist in damp weather, it is taken owt and 
er %, 


30 ABOUT ANTS. 


dried on the first fair day, and the sound ker- 
nels are carried back again; those which have 
sprouted are thrown away. Since men have 
made farms in that country, and the cattle have 
eaten down the ant-rice, thus spoiling their 
crop, the ants have either abandoned the pas- 
tures, or those communities have perished. 
They may be found in places where the cattle 
can not get at their crop of grain. 

Dr. Lincecum is confident, after twelve years 
observation, that these ants plant the grain, 
take care of it, harvest it, and keep seed for 
another sowing. Hach year the crop of ant- 
rice is found growing about their cities, and 
not a blade of any other green thing can be 
found within twelve inches of this grain. 


“rab 


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